


Strays

by MadCatta



Category: The Power of Five - Anthony Horowitz
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-17
Updated: 2016-05-17
Packaged: 2018-06-09 02:55:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6886588
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MadCatta/pseuds/MadCatta
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It starts with Richard making a stray animal shelter at the bottom of the garden. It ends with three more strays for their motley crew of a family.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Strays

**Author's Note:**

> The five and their pets are so important to me omg

 

Matt was first. Mostly because Matt always was first in everything, the first of the Five, the first to die, the first to feel that their work- the Five’s work - was done. And then one day walking home he comes across a cat.

This isn’t rare. England is populated with stray cats and dogs, a generation past being kept pets. Most had once been ill with radiation, but the worst of these died off when the Old Ones vanished and it seems to Matt that most of these strays are healthy and surviving surprisingly well.

This cat is skinny with a head far too big for its body and it sits across the path from him, licking its paw and scowling at Matt. Matt walks on; he never was much of a cat person, not after Asmodeus.

The cat stays, which is Richard’s fault. There’s a shed in the garden with one wall largely rotting away, and instead of replacing it like Matt and Jamie advise, Richard removes it completely leaving it exposed on one side. For reasons known only to Richard, he slowly fills the shed with blankets and old towels, bowls of water and dog food on the ground, cat food on shelves higher up on the remaining walls.

“Not the animals’ fault we messed up their homes,” Richard says, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I didn’t say anything,” says Matt, eyebrow raised as he watches a skinny Labrador slink into the shed and eat as much as it can.

“You were thinking something,” says Richard.

Matt says nothing. That’s how they know it’s Richard’s fault really, because next it’s the cat that watches him that races into the shed for some food.

“We’re going to get rats,” Matt says.

“Rats are everywhere. They don't hurt us.”

Again, Matt says nothing, thinking of the rats Scar’s mentioned.

“And if they do,” Richard adds, correctly reading Matt’s expression, “I think you can probably scare them off easily.”

They fall back into silence, watching more cats and dogs hurry into the shed for some easy food.

The back door to the house opens and Jamie comes out with an empty plastic bottle with pens sticking out of it. He rubs his nose when he sees Matt and Richard but pulls a face and hangs the bottle from a tree. “It’s a bird feeder,” he says, twirling it around on the string once it’s hanging from a low branch. “I made some seed stuff to go in it. Holly’s making a seed cake.”

“That’s exactly what this garden needs,” says Richard. He says it without inflection; Matt thinks he’s being sincere but it can be hard to tell.

Jamie takes it to be sincere as he smiles. “I like birds.”

~

The cat isn’t satisfied with just being fed in the garden. Sometimes when Matt’s eating breakfast alone or with Pedro at a ridiculously early hour of the day, he’ll look out of the glass back door to see the cat sitting on the bench in the garden, looking towards the house.

“The cat’s following me,” he says to Pedro.

Pedro doesn’t look away from the cereal box he’s trying to decipher. “The cat isn’t following you.”

“It is. It’s staring at me.”

“The cat isn’t staring at you,” Pedro says. “What does this say?”

“What do you think it says?” Matt asks.

Pedro scowls at him. “Something about a dumbass fucking tiger.”

“Basically.”

And then it happens. Matt gets up and opens the door to prove to Pedro that this cat is staring at him, that this cat is obsessed with him. And when Matt pulls the door wide open, the cat leaps from the bench and comes into the house. Matt stares at it over his shoulder.

The cat yowls loudly.

Pedro looks up – finally – and pulls a face. “It’s disgusting. Get rid of it.”

“Don’t call it disgusting, Pedro,” says Scar, coming down the stairs. “It’s just a bit skinny.”

Pedro eyes the cat, lip curled. “I don’t like it.”

“Me either,” says Matt.

The cat yowls.

~

Lots of different animals come to the shelter. Every night all the food goes; Matt and Richard suspect foxes. Scott sometimes worries that it could be people taking food at night as well, convinced he’d seen a large figure make its way into the shed, but Matt thinks it’s guilt talking. Just in case they’ve put a note to ring the doorbell if it is a person, with strict orders in the household only to let Matt, Scott or Jamie go to the door if it rings at night. This house rule is one of the most contentious of all their rules with Richard arguing that he should go to the door as he’s not a public figure like the Five are, that they’ve all been hurt before.

Matt and Jamie remind him that with all of them together, no one could overpower them. And with the Old Ones gone, no one really wants to hurt any of them. Scott, Matt thinks, largely doesn’t care if he does get hurt.

Anyway. It hasn’t happened yet but it’s there in case.

Dogs and cats are the most that they all see. Wilder animals tend to come at night. On quiet days Matt catches both Jamie and Pedro bird watching with some old books Richard’s found, sometimes with Holly and even Scott once or twice.

Mostly it’s small dogs. Sometimes injured, usually just underfed. They all rotate checking in on the food stocks in Richard’s animal shelter. Pedro still wakes up with the sun and tends to go first thing in the morning. One cold morning, Matt is woken by the blasted cat walking on his face. He swats it away and gets a hiss in return like he hasn’t allowed this cat the warmth of his bedroom overnight. The cat starts to yowl angrily and Matt swears at it as he wrestles his way into a suspiciously furry jumper. “C’mon, you shithole,” he says, finding some socks. “I’ll give you some shitting breakfast if you stop yelling at me.”

The cat yowls again in response but is soothed by Matt’s movement. The cat doesn’t have a place to eat inside but sometimes if Matt’s feeling particularly charitable, he finds a small bowl and scoops food into it for the cat to eat in the comfort of their house. “But it isn’t your house,” he reminds the cat as he lifts it from the counter again. “You don’t live here.”

The cat jumps back on the counter again, tail flicking in Matt’s face as it tries to get past him to the food.

Matt puts both the cat and the bowl on the floor and strokes its back quickly.

It’s about seven in the morning. The air is crisp and cold, frost retaining Pedro’s footprints from the house to the shed. Only one track, Matt notes. He puts the kettle on and waits for Pedro to return. The cat comes and settles itself on his lap as Matt leafs through the newspaper. A local primary school has reopened after seven years of closure, local pub has pictures of the winning pub team. Global news is largely unremarkable currently which they’re all rather grateful for.

When Pedro still hasn’t returned from the shed at the end of the newspaper, Matt starts to wonder. “Sorry, puss,” he murmurs, standing up and displacing the cat from his lap. The cat stalks off offended, likely to end up in someone else’s bed. Holly has grown fond of the cat even suggesting they name it, but Matt reminds her if they name it they basically own it.

“Matt, she’s got a special bowl in the cupboard and you bought her fancy cat food. You have a cat,” she had said, rolling her eyes.

“I don’t have a cat,” he’d said as the cat head-butted his hand in the way it does when it wants an ear scratch.

Pedro’s in sweats and two jumpers with Scott’s jacket on top, kneeling in the shed with his hands outstretched and resting on a new arrival to the shelter. The collie raises its head slightly when Matt enters and thumps its tail a few times. Pedro doesn’t move, in total concentration over this dog.

It’s fascinating to watch Pedro work. His chest rises and falls at the same pace as the dogs – too fast for Pedro – and Matt would bet their heartbeats are perfectly in sync. His face is calm, eyes closed, something magical about his expression.

Slowly Pedro comes back to himself; first his shoulders drop, his mouth twitches and his breathing slows. And then all at once his eyes snap open and he pulls his hands away. The dog whines and struggles to pull itself up but Pedro pushes it back to stay lying. With Pedro moved, Matt can see pinky red skin over most of the dog’s abdomen, shiny as Pedro’s healed it.

“He was very hurt…” says Pedro. He reaches a hand to the dog’s head and rests it there; the dog turns its neck to lick Pedro’s hand and then settles. “He was sad.”

“I didn’t say anything,” says Matt.

Pedro pulls himself up and shivers. “I need something warm.”

The day doesn’t warm up much and Pedro breaks in the early afternoon. It’s only him, Holly, Scarlett and Matt at home (and the cat) and they’ve all been out to sit with the dog in between Pedro’s healing. Pedro drums his fingers on the table and then asks, “Can we bring the dog in?”

Holly grins straight off. Scar shrugs her shoulders, but everyone’s eyes land on Matt. They always do. “I guess,” says Matt.

Pedro grins, sharply and quickly, and practically runs outside to lead the dog in.

“You watch out or he’ll give the dog a name,” says Scar, smirking at Matt.

“Doesn’t need a name to get attached,” says Holly. “There’s a certain cat I know…”

Matt opens his mouth to protest but, as if on cue, there’s a loud yowl.

~

Scott’s rat is a surprise.

“Oh God,” Scar shudders, “you didn’t find it in the sewers, did you?”

“Yeah,” says Scott as he rolls his eyes, “I found him when I was doing my usual Sunday afternoon sewer walk.”

“Well, where else do you get them? No one has pet rats anymore.”

Scott angles the rat away from Scar. “I do,” he says.

Richard also eyes the rat unpleasantly. “Where _did_ it come from?”

“Does it matter?” Scott pulls the rat closer to him but it breaks free to sit on his shoulder. “He’s beautiful. And he’s mine.”

“There’s this real animal shelter,” says Jamie, reaching his hand forward for the rat to smell.

“Jamie –“ Scott starts but Jamie carries on over him.

“Scott and me go there sometimes. We told them what we’re doing – like in case they wanted us to call them with the strays but they’re totally full. And they have some small pets that need homing…”

“He’s already been living here like two weeks, you can’t get rid of him,” says Scott, scowling at them all.

Richard holds his hands up. “Not getting rid of.”

“Pedro’s got that dumbass dog, Matt’s got the cat-“

They all speak at once, cutting Scott off.

“He’s not a dumbass,” Pedro says hotly.

“You _love_ that dog!”

“I don’t have a cat-“

“We’re not saying you can’t-“

Scar squeaks when the rat crosses from Scott’s shoulder to Jamie’s arm and up onto his head, far too close to her for comfort.

“C’mere, gorgeous,” Scott murmurs, reaching up for the rat again. “I won’t let him go out of my room unsupervised,” he tells her. “He’s only young… they said he was miserable in the shelter.”

“I didn’t say no…” says Scar.

The scowl drops from Scott’s face. Matt wouldn’t quite say he’s smiling but there’s definitely a quirk at the corner of his mouth, his face less stony than usual. “He can stay?”

“Long as he has no fleas,” says Scar. “You know how I feel about bugs…”

Scott nods and ducks his head.

True to his word, the rat is rarely out of Scott’s sight. In fact it’s the most inoffensive house guest of all of them – it doesn’t snore like Pedro and Scar, doesn’t fart like Pedro’s dog and doesn’t hiss and scratch like Matt’s cat. It doesn’t leave empty milk cartons in the fridge – mostly Matt but Jamie almost definitely does it as well, and doesn’t take showers that last forever like Scott. Matt and Holly quite enjoy setting up obstacle courses for it and everyone rolls their eyes every time Scott calls it “baby”.

It’s a good house, Matt thinks one day. The five of them, Richard and Holly, and the three animals. All the strays under one roof. Because obviously after the dog spent the week it took to heal with them, none of them could bear to part with him, least of all Pedro. And the cat isn’t Matt’s but then it isn’t not Matt’s because it’s him the cat seeks out when it wants love and affection, it’s his jumpers the cat prefers to curl up in. The animals are good for them; the strays and their strays, helping each other through the day.

**Author's Note:**

> (lol but the hardest part is naming them matt refuses to give in to ‘owning’ this cat – do u ever really own a cat – and pedro thinks it’s stupid to name this dog this dumbass dog he doesn’t care about but will fight you if you even frown at him and scott just. Loves his rat. And never quite gets around to giving him a name it’s just a bunch of ridiculous pet names)


End file.
